Pain Temporarily
by Hunterbeta
Summary: An unfortunate turn of events puts the team at a stand-still as both Maxwell and Alicia sustain injuries that could possible slow them down. However both are reluctant to admit such handicaps, much like they are reluctant to admit other things...R
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: So I've gotten into the mood for more Bullet Witch stories so here's another one. It might go on for a bit longer than I intend but I have a small part of the storyline finished for now, so I wanted to give it some time to see where I'm going. And just as a reminder, the characters Marilyn, Jackson, Butch, Dave etc. (or anyone else that I mention that are not a main part of the Bullet Witch character list) are my own names put with the NPCs. They may play play a part in the game so I figured I might as well add them in the storiess too. Hope you enjoy! **

"This is ground control to moving units, does anyone copy?" Marilyn called. Her radio kept close in case anyone replied. However, for the last hour or so it felt like some kind of black out in the communication system. She couldn't get anyone to reply. What was the point in being the communications specialists if there was no one out there answering her? "I repeat, this is ground control to moving units is there anyone out there to copy?" Still nothing.

Sighing, she dropped her head some and ran a hand over her hair. "For the Love of God..." she muttered. With the exception of a small bit of static to answer, the silence was beginning to creep her out. She had made sure to careful barricade herself inside of an abandoned office building, but even then she was beginning to think she was being paranoid with small random noises echoing about. But the protocol was if you became separated from the main group, make sure to be in a safe and secured area. It was secured, and she made extra rounds to make sure it was safe. "Someone answer the damn radio."

"This is Major Tom to ground control, I'm stepping through the door and I'm floating in the most peculiar way..." a voice buzzed over the radio.

She jumped lightly at the odd message before chuckling both at herself for being jumpy and at the voice who sang on the other end.

"-And the stars look very different today."

"Butch, you take every chance, don't you?" she replied.

"Any chance with you baby." he spoke. There was a bit of movement heard in the background of his transmission telling her that he was still somewhere out moving around the city. "Alright so...I may have gotten myself lost out here."

"You mean the whole group split up?" Marilyn questioned.

"Well after that chase from the Geist soldiers and then there was the whole tank thing...yeah..." Butch replied. "Well either that or we're both just retarded and got ourselves lost."

She shook her head and gave a moment before replying. "And it doesn't help that no one else will answer the radio. So where does that put us?"

"With just you and me?"

"Butch...shut up."

_XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX_

Her gunrod easily broke open the thin skull of the Geists soldier.

Its body fell to the floor in a bloody heap of mangled bones as she turned to the next soldier who dared a go. The next Geist soldier ducked when she swung her gunrod, crackling madly as she left herself vulnerable after the heavy swing. The butt of a machinegun knocked it down and some well-placed bullets kept it there. Alicia sighed lightly as she stuck her gun in the ground and wiped the light layer of sweat from her brow. "That was the last one..."

"Man, I need a break," Maxwell chuckled. Sighing, he looked around at the bodies that surrounded them. "So, that gets rid of the soldiers. Where's the tank?"

"It can't be that hard to-" Alicia started before a familiar whistle filled the air. The two barely turned in time before a rocket exploded nearby. The blast sent debris, concrete, vehicles and bodies into the air. Both of them were knocked back and lost in the sudden motion of events.

The groan of the tank was heard before the large vehicle eventually rumbled into view. Dented and rusted with age, the machine slowly rumbled along through the broken street. Occasionally slowing down to push through several piles of debris. The turret grumbled as it was turned left and right in search for any movement from any surviving victims. Coming up with nothing, the turret turned back to the front and the vehicle slowly moved on by.

Maxwell groaned as the pressure of the concrete slab above began to pay toll on his shoulders and back. He couldn't really move his legs that much, but at least one of his arms was free. He could see how far he could get with that. Managing to move some smaller pieces aside, he slowly managed to free his other arm. The air was heavy and almost hot to breathe in. Dust and small pieces of concrete seemed to catch together in his lungs which inspired a few coughing sessions to clear them out.

"Ah man..." he muttered; shouldering the large concrete slab off of his back. "I can finally breathe." shaking his head, he managed to slide out from underneath the large concrete block before falling back against the debris pile. He hurt everywhere. It felt like several ribs were bruised; his arms were cut up pretty bad and he had a headache to top it off. Sighing, he started to get up before stopping as the motion just sent pain racketing across his body. "This sucks."

The sound of a soft groan caught his attention as he noticed a small pile of debris nearby started to shift. It had to be Alicia. Despite the pain, he forced himself to his feet and half stumbled, half fell over to where she was trapped. He moved the debris pieces as fast as his sore shoulders would allow him too. Moving aside a larger piece, he watched as her arm fell free from the confinement. Blood trickled off her fingertips from a large gash that edged down her arm.

"Alicia?" he called; taking her hand in his own. Her fingers twitched some before eventually giving his hand a weak squeeze. "Thank God." he sighed before working on removing the rest of the debris. It took him close to ten minutes before he was able to move enough of the debris to pull her out. She was covered in white dust and blood. Her hair almost seemed gray under the dust, although he was sure his looked the same. She groaned when she attempted to sit up.

"My head..." she muttered; gingerly putting her hand to the source of the pain. The warmth of blood flooded her fingertips and a small trickle slowly made its way down her face. "I must've hit it on something..."

"We need to get you to Jackson," Maxwell remarked; looking around for any sign of the tank. "I don't see any Geist around so we should take this moment to run."

"I don't want to run..." Alicia groaned but took his hand when he offered it to her. She swayed slightly when she got to her feet.

_**You don't look so pretty...**_

"Don't remind me," she grumbled; holding a hand to her head.

_**You're low on health and strength. I won't be able to heal you properly till you get some rest but I can do what I can with what you have left.**_

"I need to keep moving..." she whispered, before turning back to Maxwell. "Let's get going. I won't be able to do much in this state but I'll do what I can."

"I was just planning on running," Maxwell remarked; watching as she swayed some on her feet and had to step out some to keep her balance. "You know what, why don't I just carry you out of here?"

"No, it's okay..." Alicia started, before falling forward.

Maxwell was quick to catch her before noticing that she had clearly passed out. "Oh man...what do I do now?"

_**Whoops...**_

_XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX_

"Ground control this is Jackson, is anyone there?" he sighed when only static answered him. "Fuck this radio man. Damn thing must be busted." slipping the small communicator back on his belt he looked back over what he could see of the streets from his position. What few Geist solders there were, were gone but the tank was still somewhere out there. He heard it shoot a rocket off earlier before slowly just drifting away. It could be anywhere by this point. Luckily though, he would be able to hear it before he saw it. Or before it saw him.

"Man, how the hell did we manage to bust up the entire team?" he mumbled; jumping off the pile of cars he had been standing on for over an hour now. No one was coming his way and he couldn't see anyone walking around either, so might as well just continue on foot patrol. One of the rules of protocol was if you were separated from the team, keep the radio open and find a safe place to stay till you could regroup. He had the radio open...but he didn't exactly want to leave the street just yet. There was still some time to look for the others. A few more minutes wouldn't hurt anyone.

"Jackson!" He turned at the call of his name and watched as one of his teammates raced over to him. "Buddy!"

"Oh God- Butch-" he started before nearly getting knocked to the ground by his friend's tackle. "Well at least I know someone's still alive out here."

"Yeah and aren't you glad it's me?" Butch grinned. "So what are you doing all the way out here?"

"Trying to get someone to answer the damn radio." he sighed; holding up the black device. "I think the thing got busted though."

"Well don't worry; I know where Marilyn is so we can get her to look at it." Butch assured. "She's in one of these abandoned office buildings...I talked to her earlier and said I was heading over. But I can't really remember which one she said she was in."

"I'm so glad we can rely on you Butch." Jackson remarked sarcastically.

* * *

"Well I know it's not exactly like home but it'll work for tonight," Marilyn sighed as she leaned back against one of the chairs she managed to salvage from one of the offices. It had a few bullet holes in it but it did pretty well. With her legs crossed in front of her, she busied her hands with working on some of the busted radios. Jackson's had a few loose wires inside that she could easily fix; Dave had a missing chip but luckily he managed to find it before taking it to her; and Maxwell...well half of it was crushed from the debris fall. She could possibly fix it...but it would need a whole new exterior which wasn't exactly just lying around anywhere for her to find.

"Hey it's good enough for me," Butch shrugged; lying out on the floor with his gun set aside and hands tucked under his head. "Any place with a roof and walls is good."

"I love having someone with such low expectations." she chuckled; looking up to silently count the rest of their teammates for the twentieth time that night. She was sometimes paranoid with knowing where everyone was and making sure everyone was in place. Which for now, they were. Most of the men were catching up on some sleep, like Butch was, while others busied themselves with cleaning their weapons or a small card game. "Maxwell, you doing okay over there?" she asked; noting how quiet their leader was. "You haven't said much. Got something on your mind?"

"Does pain count?" Maxwell replied; rubbing his temples. "My head's been ringing back and forth from that hit I took earlier. Plus my ribs are still hurting so I have to be careful and not breathe too hard. Jackson said I already tore some of the membrane away, so it kind of hurts no matter what I do. I'll live though, so no need to worry."

"Oh I'm holding it all in." she replied; sighing as fixing Dave's radio was proving to be a bit more complicated than she originally thought.

"Oh man..." the two looked up at the comment and watched as Jackson walked into the room. His eyes were tired as he wiped his hands on a bloodied cloth. "I tell ya man, she was busted up pretty bad. Mild concussion, half her ribcage was broken, a few sprains here or there, some cuts and gashes, and a whole lot of bruising. But she'll be okay. Nothing too major. From what I could tell, there was no major internal bleeding. She'll need a lot of rest but she should be stable enough to move by morning...if we're lucky. You guys were floating on a miracle. Getting hit by a rocket at that range, you should be lucky you didn't break your spine or were obliterated into shreds that we could fit in a match box."

"You always know how to raise my spirits Jackson," Maxwell replied sarcastically. "What would I do without you?"

"Bleed a whole lot more." he chuckled. "Now let's all get some rest and do this all again in the morning."


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: I've had this idea in my head for a few weeks now and just now got around to doing it. Really I guess I just wanted an excuse to write about some of Alicia's costumes. Glad to see you guys are enjoying it though!**

The first thing she saw was white.

All around her was just white.

Alicia sighed as she walked around the stale room. Her head was still pounding even then. It felt like a marching band was rampaging through her mind. Shrugging it off, she walked over to where a beautiful set of white furniture was placed around one another. Dropping down onto the couch, she brushed a hand through her hair and looked around at the never-ending room around her. Was this her sub-conscious? Or was she really dead? Was this like Heaven? Or like Hell? If this was her sub-conscious, would she meet Darkness?

"If you ask any more stupid questions, I'm gonna send us both to Kingdom come." Her dark eyes lifted at the familiar voice.

A dark shadow of a figure walked over to her with a glass cup in one hand. He moved around the chair opposite of her before taking a seat. Dressed nicely in a midnight suit, with an open-collared shirt underneath a velvet-like jacket, the man stirred his drink with a small silver spoon. His silk-black hair was pushed from his face and had been spiked in the back. He seemed to focus solely on his drink before setting it aside on a nearby side table.

"Alicia." he spoke; the words slipping from pale lips.

"Darkness." she replied; eyes narrowed as his name broke free.

He hummed momentarily before speaking again. "You're not dead by the way, just in a comatose state at the moment. I heal better than way. However, the lack of magic in your bloodstream is slowing down my process. You'll be in pain for a few days but nothing's life-threatening anymore."

She draped her arms over the back of the couch and shrugged softly. "I'm still alive then. That's all that matters."

"Hmm...and suddenly all you care about now is living." he remarked.

"You're not exactly how I would have imagined you to look." she replied. "I expected something more...dramatic. More rugged maybe."

"I can change my appearance." he responded. "I can be classy, dramatic, rugged, evil, and even ugly if I choose to be. I figured this appearance would've been for the best since we would be meeting for the second time. You don't remember me from the first time."

When she was brought back from the crash. "Well you certainly weren't what I expect."

"And neither were you but hey, can't complain," he shrugged. "Could've gotten something worse."

She shook her head and sighed lightly. "So how much longer will I be stuck in here?" her eyes peered around the room once more, still finding nothing new about it.

"Till I finish repairing your busted insides," he answered. "It's not easy working on bleeding kidneys or ruptured intestines with limited power." he fiddled with his cup for a moment before drinking from the dark liquid inside it. "But I'm getting it finish even as we speak. You know...even when you're unconscious you think about him."

"Well maybe if you stayed out of my thoughts more often," she muttered. "Darkness even yourself said we needed the humans help to defeat the Geist. And I can't keep them around if I act like you half the time."

He wrinkled his nose some at the remark. "I said you needed their help with Omega; that was it. Not that you can go around and wipe out the Geist by yourself, you can keep the humans around all you want but it seems like a certain one is beginning to distract you."

"If it wasn't for him, I might've been crushed under all that concrete." she reminded; narrowing her eyes once more. "We both would've died."

Darkness remained silent for several more moments. "There are more Omegas out there. It's best if you keep your little human friends within reach."

Alicia nodded lightly. "Yes..."

"That doesn't mean I...approve of your relationships with them however." he was quick to remind.

"Darkness..." she started; getting to her feet. "Just focus on keeping me alive and we'll see how it goes from there."

"You arrogant little-"

_XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx_

Alicia groaned as she rolled over to one side and clutched both hands to her head. A fiery hot pain seemed to spread itself over her head and left a high-pitched ring in her ears. She cracked one eye open, despite the pain from the sudden light, and looked around the small room. It was some small office with a busted window and a knocked over fake plant. Broken picture frames hung on the wall in pieces while the remaining parts littered the ground. Muttering to herself, she slowly started to get herself up on her arms. A dull pain spread across her shoulders at the movement and a sharp jolt ran up her right arm. She looked down to see her wrist wrapped heavily in gauze. It was swollen with the bruises spreading over her knuckles. She must've busted it in the blast.

Slowly swinging her legs over the side of the small couch she was on, she took a moment to catch her breath. Even the lightest moment seemed to render her breathless. Now would be the time to look over the damages. She had wrappings over both arms, even though her right arm still remained worse off, more bandages ran down her left leg where it seemed like her kneecap had been knocked out of place at one point. It didn't seem too serious seeing as there were limited bruises and very little swelling. Her chest, mid-section and lower stomach were practically hidden under different layers of gauze. She looked like a mummy underneath all the bindings.

Putting a hand to her still throbbing head, she felt the gauze that was weaved through her hair to cover the head wound. Some of the gauze had been pulled down over her left eye, which she had failed to notice till now.

_**Nice handy work...**_

"Don't start," she replied; cutting him off. She looked over at the nearby desk to see a pile of clothing with a small note. Getting to her weak legs, she limped slightly over to see what it read: _"Sorry about the selection, these were the only clothes I could find. -Marilyn'_

_**What's the point in leaving behind a note?**_

"At least it's something," Alicia shrugged; flipping through the small pile of a ripped pair of jean, a dirty shirt, a tan jacket and some other clothing she didn't really care for. "Well my other clothes are ripped for now, so these will have to do."

_**I can fix the other suit while you find a substitute**_.

She thought about his offer and looked down at the ripped leather remains. Not much was really left of them. Her overskirt was missing half the flip and her shirt collar was torn off. "Yeah, just let me pick something out first." she looked over the clothing once more before taking the jacket and jeans. The jeans would be too short on her; the shirt would be too big; the jacket...was okay. Not her style but she couldn't complain. Taking a seat back on the couch, she sighed before slowly starting to get dressed.

_XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx_

"Should we wake them now or let them sleep in another hour?" Jackson asked; leaning up against the doorframe as he looked into the room where the team was snoozing.

"I don't know, I mean we need to make up for lost ground but...Butch looks like an angel when he sleeps," Marilyn shrugged; standing next to him. "It's a lot quieter when he's asleep now that I think about it."

Chuckling, Jackson dusted off his jacket some. "Hell Maxwell's not even up. He's normally the first one at dawn."

"Well he did get stuck under a few pounds of concrete." Marilyn reminded. "He's got a few pulled muscles and he'll probably be sore for a few days. Not to mention Alicia's still out, so we should at least wait and see how she's feeling. She got hit pretty hard yesterday."

"Got that right." Jackson nodded. "Come to think of it, I should probably go and see how she's doing. I haven't checked on her since last night."

"Hmm...Did someone say Alicia?" Maxwell muttered; slowly stirring as he scratched his face before blinking several times. "Man, what time is it? Did I oversleep?"

"Man, do you ever have anyone else on your mind?" Marilyn smiled. "And it's close to noon about now; we figured you needed the extra hours of sleep. Even if it pushes us back on our schedule, health is more important than getting more done around here. After all, where would we be if you were dead?"

"Not here," Maxwell chuckled before wincing. "Ah, I forgot it hurts when I laugh."

"Well if you want to go on and continue moving the troops today, then we should get started," Jackson spoke. "But if you want to put it off for a few more hours, that's fine too."

He thought about it over and over in his head. They really should keep moving, that tank was still out there somewhere, but then again he really didn't feel like moving either. Sighing, he slowly managed to push himself to his feet. "Let's see what Alicia wants to do first. I don't want to push her injures any more than they already have been."

"Alright, we were just about to go and check in on her," Marilyn started; stepping back into the hallway. "Jackson said that she was-" she spoke before noticing the dark-haired figure walking down the hallway towards them. "Oh...well, never mind then."

"She's already up?" Jackson questioned. "I figured with a concussion like that she would still be down."

"It's Alicia," Maxwell reminded; rubbing the back of her head. "She's a real team player." however it only took him a few more moments before he realized that she was no longer wearing her usual black leather outfit. Instead, she was dressed in a pair of cut off shorts that revealed the gauze wrapped around her legs and lower stomach. A kind of burnt-orange jacket with light fuzz around the neck was the only other thing she wore next to her boots. Revealing the gauze wrapped around her chest, the jacket almost did little to hide the fact that the gauze was pretty much the only other thing she wore around her chest. One could almost see the soft crevice between her breasts through the lapses in the gauze wrappings.

"Nice to see everyone awake." Alicia remarked casually; placing her gunrod behind her as she always did when she stopped walking.

"Are...those the pair of jeans I found earlier today?" Marilyn questioned; overlooking the outfit one more time.

"Yes," Alicia replied. "So are we heading out right now or not?"

"Uh..." Maxwell started; trying to concentrate on something else as he moved his eyes around the room. _Don't look at her breasts...do no look at her breasts....damnit! I looked!_ "Uh I'm gonna go get some fresh air and see how everything looks outside!" he replied before taking off down the other hallway.

Alicia tilted her head some at the action before putting it off. "So, I take that as a yes."

"Do you think you're well enough?" Jackson asked; crossing his arms. "I mean, it's solely up to you on whether we move on today or wait a few extra hours. If you need the rest don't be afraid to take it. I honestly think Maxwell should lie down some more...seems like he lost some blood from his head during that blast."

"I'm fine." she assured. "Let's just keep on moving."

"Alright, I'll get the men up." Marilyn nodded; before she stepped back inside the conference room they had bunkered in. "Alright, rise and shine ladies, today's a new day."

"Five more minutes sweet face," Butch muttered.

"Call me that again and you won't even be getting up...ever again."

Alicia headed down the only non-destroyed hallway that lead out of the building. Half of the office building had collapsed so most of the rooms and hallways were either inaccessible or too dangers to try and access. Her boots clicked quietly against the floor as she moved past the small rubble piles and pieces of glass. She didn't exactly feel up to speed but her injuries were no reason to slow down the rest of the team. They weren't too serious. She could still move, that's all that mattered. Pushing open the battered side door, she winced some at the dim light of the sun. Slowly as they were clearing out the Geist, the weather started to clear up. It was no longer red or gray. Every now and then, you could almost feel the heat from the sun's rays.

Things were going to be a bit more difficult with one eye now. Her vision was cut by three inches on her left side so she was left with walking with a slight impairment. Nothing looked different outside though. Everything was still wrecked and in ruins as it was when they first entered the city.

"Ah man...I shouldn't have ran out here." Maxwell groaned; holding one hand to his side. "Stupid ribs."

She spotted him standing near one of the concrete supports left from an outside sitting area. Careful of where she stepped, she walked over to him. "Maxwell."

He jumped some at her voice and turned back to see who it was. "Alicia...you really shouldn't sneak up on me like that."

"You should be use to it by now." she replied. "What happened after I passed out? Is that tank still out there?"

"Unfortunately yes," Maxwell nodded with a sigh. "We didn't get a chance to take it after you passed out. Do you know how hard it is to carry you and your gunrod at the same time? Let alone do it with some busted ribs and several pulled muscles." He thought he saw her smirk a little bit but it washed away quickly.

"Thank you." Alicia replied.

"Eh, it's nothing. I mean you've saved my ass plenty of times before," Maxwell assured. "And hey, we both came out alive, right? That's what's important. Right now though...we need to find and get rid of that tank. That thing can cause more damage than an entire unit of Geist soldiers. As for example..."

"Hey! You two know you're not allowed to be alone by yourselves for long periods of time!" Butch called as the team emerged from the building. "We don't want you two hurting yourselves more than you already have."

"Yeah, kind of like you and Marilyn, right?" Maxwell called back.

"Don't bring me into this!"


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Well as someone reminded me, I haven't updated this story in almost a year or so, which surprises me. I guess I lost track of time somewhere and ultimately forgot about this story, which is slightly disappointing. I forgot where I was originally going with it but I do have some new ideas I'd like to try out with it, as soon as I get the time to get them down. Again, I'd like to apologize for the long wait.**

"Oh man, I knew we should've waited."

Marilyn turned back towards Jackson, who only carefully massaged his forehead with the tips of his fingers before she looked over to the only other woman in the group. "Last I recall, you didn't make any remark like that before."

"Yeah I know but...the entire time I was thinking we travel a lot and having broken ribs is not something you want to walk with." Jackson sighed; watching as Alicia sat down on a nearby rock pile to rest her injured leg. Hell, if Alicia needed to take a break that basically meant they were all screwed. And with Maxwell just a few feet away from them hacking up blood...well he was probably going to be the first to go. Another sigh escaped him as he rubbed the back of his neck now and looked back to Marilyn, who was looking back on the rest of the team behind them. "But you know, sometimes I just don't have the heart to tell Maxwell no."

"Heh, yeah." Marilyn chuckled as she ran her fingers over her hair. "Plus, he's just so energetic, he wouldn't stop just because 'he's having a problem' and 'is in excruciating pain.'"

"Tell me about it." Jackson replied with a light chuckle himself before he looked back over to the blonde-haired Commander. "Hey Maxwell! You need a break or something? We can stop for the day!"

"I'm fine!" he shouted back as he finished off the last heave to empty the blood from his throat. "We gotta find that tank and kick its ass!"

"Does a tank even have an ass?" Butch questioned as he busied himself by climbing to the top of the nearest debris pile. From what he could see, there was absolutely nothing around them. It was just yet another barren wasteland that was comprised of shells of former buildings and nothing more than a shadow of what the city used to be. All he could see was debris and all he could smell was death.

"Well if it has one, I'm finding it and sending my boot halfway up-"

"Okay, okay! We got it!" Marilyn laughed as she rubbed her temples in an attempt to ward away another migraine. She carried herself through the barely visible road between the rubble piles that dwarfed her in height. "Well we know they couldn't have gotten far, so the Geists should still be in this city. It's just the fact on where they are that's the problem and where the hell that tank is. That thing is going to be our biggest concern right now. If we can't find it...we could possibly be looking at more injuries than we can stand."

"Well I am glad we're all on the same page here." Maxwell spoke; wiping the blood from his lips as he took a minor breath to ease the burning in his chest. All the walking around and moving had jostled some of his already bruised and/or broken ribs loose once more. And damn, was it excruciating. He had bruised ribs as a kid but...shit, none of them were like this. Okay, maybe it was because he went to the hospital for those ones too and...at the moment, there weren't any around anymore. Letting out a long sigh, he looked back as someone's hand touched the back of his shoulder.

"Are you okay?" Alicia questioned.

"Yeah...yeah, I'm fine." he nodded as he turned around to face her. "Just you know, I guess I didn't sleep that well last night. What about you? You okay? I mean...you got that huge head injury and everything."

"It's fine." she answered quickly. "Darkness was working on it last night, so it's not as...painful as it used to be."

"Alright well then...that's good news." he replied slowly as he found the conversation quickly turning just a bit awkward almost. It really almost hurt him to see her in such a state; he had made a promise to himself to make sure she remained safe and hopefully unscathed or at least not dead...and he almost had failed at that. Letting out another long sigh, he rubbed at the sore spot on the back of his head before he managed a short grin. "Well come on, I guess we should go back to the rest of the team now...unfortunately."

"Too bad for us." she remarked; surprising him mildly at the slight joke. She swung her gunrod back behind her as she turned to head back towards the main group.

_**This is going to take a lot longer than I expected...**_

"Thanks for letting me know." she muttered.

"Hey, it's no problem." Marilyn spoke as she reached her arms above her in a long stretch. "We'll just keep moving in for a few more blocks and if we don't run into anything or hear anything, then we should be able to settle in for the night. I think you two need to rest for a bit longer and I'm sure the team wouldn't mind the extra few hours of shut eye."

"For the last time, I'm fine." Maxwell reaffirmed as he walked passed the two. "Let's just keep on going till we run into that tank again.

_**Quite the stupid one, isn't he?**_

"Be nice." Alicia whispered with a shake of her head as she slowly started off the blonde-haired Commander. "He's just determined...that's all."

"More like stupid." Marilyn interjected once more.

"Marilyn, be nice and don't make me come up there." Jackson started.

* * *

"It feels like I'm dying...however that's supposed to feel like."

"Well maybe we'll get lucky." Marilyn remarked as she busied herself with mending a tear in her sleeve.

"What did I say about controlling yourself?"

"Sorry Jackson." she muttered sarcastically.

Maxwell sighed as he tried to find a somewhat comfortable placement on the floor that wouldn't send his ribs into another wreck of pain but so far, he was somewhat failing at that. "Alright so what are our plans for tonight and tomorrow? Any ideas?"

"Well before you make any concrete decisions, I just want to say that, seeing as I'm the medical expert here, I should have the last word. And right now, my last word would be that we should wait a few days here or there till you and Alicia get better. I know it's going to seem like a pain but you're only making your injuries worst by moving with them. Yes, it's necessary at times, but seeing as we're not heading anywhere at any given time or on any kind of schedule, I think we'll be fine if we decide to cool down for a couple of days. It's going to make things better in the long run even if we have to take a slow start." Jackson started.

"Yeah but what if we miss out on the tank?" Butch questioned.

"Well then we miss out on the tank." Marilyn shrugged. "We'll eventually find it, it's not going to be that difficult especially if the Geists keep up with making all those noises they normally do. It's a problem and threat, yes but there's no way we can take it out if we're two members down."

"And seeing how Alicia is out of the picture for now...we're going to have to manage with the working members we have, which means we can't allow for even the smallest room for error." Jackson continued. "And knowing how you operate Butch-"

"Aw hell, I knew that was going to come up."

"Then maybe you should've planned accordingly before you butted in." Marilyn suggested with a light chuckle.

"Look the main point here is, is if we're going to have to stay in this abandoned building for awhile, then we're going to stay in this abandoned building for awhile; it's too dangerous and hazardous to move with two injured, especially since our heavy power is out for the count. We could use these next few days to rest up, get inventory back under control, check the nearby buildings for supplies and just wait till they're in a better condition to move." Jackson remarked. "We'll be fine."

"Dude...I don't know if Maxwell is asleep or dead."

"Go poke him." Marilyn urged.

"Oooh..."

"Butch, don't even think about it."

* * *

The pounding in her head was beginning to die away as she rubbed at the still fresh and sore wound on the back of her skull. Darkness was working at reducing the internal damages and getting rid of the pain but...unfortunately, it left her still with the outside injuries, which needed to be tended to by Jackson. But, that could wait till morning. For tonight...she was busy.

Her heels squeaked slightly as they struggled to catch hold onto the damaged remains of what had once been a staircase. Her hands kept a tight hold on the hanging railing as she pulled herself up along the ruins with some difficulty before she made it to the final floor. It could've been a ten or twenty story building but at the moment, only seven of those stories remained. What was left of the seventh story was a mere shell of concrete walls and broken windows. Mostly ashes consisted and remained as faint reminders that this barren, wrecked floor had once been an office level with some desks, or maybe an exercising room, who knew. Broken tiles crunched underneath her feet as she moved across the floor and carefully found a stable floor piece to stand on while she looked out on the dying horizon, which lit up with burning gases.

_**What are you doing here**_

"I don't know."

_**Hmm...no...no you don't have a reason, do you?**_

"Not really."

_**You're beginning to frighten me Alicia; I believe you've picked up some of these habits from that Commander...Never having a reason to think things through.**_


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: I'm trying really hard to get this story finished up. I've been watching a few youtube videos for Bullet Witch since I haven't had time to play it over again just to put me back into the scenario of it all. I'm pretty sure somewhere along the way, I'm slipping in the whole storyline of it. **

The touch of someone lightly shaking her shoulder was enough to leave her with a light groan as she reached back to push them away. "Butch...what did I tell you about touching me?" she half mumbled as she rolled fully onto her stomach and buried her face into her arms.

"Marilyn..." Jackson sighed as he continued to try to shake her awake. "Marilyn, did you hear that?"

She swatted at him once more before she slowly pushed herself away from the ground. "This had better be good."

"Are you even listening to me?"

"Of course I am, now leave me alone."

He watched as she got up slightly only to roll herself over and further away from him. Letting out a long sigh, he jumped and glanced back at another thick echo of metal grinding together somewhere out in the distance. It made his skin and blood turn cold as he reached over for the woman once more; this time, she was already sitting up next to him- a stilled gasp caught on her lips. "Do you understand now?"

"Is that... what I think it is?" Marilyn whispered.

"Yeah."

"Why are you two whispering?" Butch questioned as he managed to lift himself up just enough to spy over at the two. "Did I miss something?"

"Something like that." Jackson started.

"Hey, why do you have your hand on my girl?"

* * *

_**Here they come...**_

She turned back at the remark and watched as movement nearby caught her eye.

There it was.

There was that tank.

_**You're going to go after it, aren't you?**_

"What do you think?" Alicia replied as she walked herself over to the broken edge of the building floor. She leaned over slightly to get a better look at the tank as it slowly lumbered along through the mess of debris everywhere. "It's the only way to solve this problem; it'll give us the upper hand."

_**Let me refresh your memory here, after all you did take a rather HARD hit the first time. They have Geist soldiers, who are ruthless bastards and they have a tank, which I'm sure you are very well aware of. And yet, you still wish to jump out there and take them on when I can barely keep enough energy running through your body to keep you conscious at this point.**_

His tone almost seemed to mimic that of a scolding father.

_**It does not.**_

"If I have to be unconscious for a few days, then so be it." she spoke. "But I will take out that machine and I will take out the soldiers who follow it."

_**...**_

"What are you thinking about?"

_**You're doing it for them, aren't you? You want to take it out so they don't have to worry for it anymore.**_

"Hold tight Darkness." she whispered before she stepped over the broken edge; her body falling freely towards the ground as the air whipped around her almost violently. The few seconds of free fall were all that were needed as she struck the following ground on one knee to break the fall; her dark eyes looking around for any movement before she continued on. Her gunrod bounced behind her as she raced in the direction of the noises. Despite her body's need for rest, she pushed herself over hills of debris and through the shells of other buildings before she saw the lumbering machine come into sight. Pressing herself against the cold interior wall of a building, she glanced out of the empty, broken doorway and watched as it slowly crushed any and all debris in its path.

She had one shot at this.

She had to make it work.

"Okay, so what's the plan?"

The question stilled her insides before she glanced over to see the blonde-haired Commander across the doorway from her; his hands were tight around his rifle as he glanced back out to observe the field once more. "What are you doing here?"

"I could ask you the same thing but then that would be impolite."

"You're in no condition to be out here fighting." Alicia reminded.

Maxwell glanced back at her for a moment and only shook his head with a quiet chuckle. "You're insane for telling me that; you are far worst looking than I am when it comes to injuries."

"That's an entirely different case."

"The case we should really be focusing on is taking out that tank." he spoke; redirecting their conversation. "We can discuss this matter later. Now then, would you prefer the right side or the left side for attack?"

She knew the man far too well to try and talk him down. Once he had that little blonde head of his set on an idea, there was no use in fighting him for it. Glancing back out to the sight, she caught the movement of a few roaming soldiers who followed loosely behind the tank. Those were the ones she needed. If she could kill two or three of them then that should give her enough power to destroy the tank next. "I'll take the left and create a distraction-"

"I know how you work." Maxwell interrupted. "I'll go right and create the distraction; you can pick off the soldiers while they're focused on me and take out the tank afterwards. As long as we avoid gunfire and any missiles then we should survive this within an inch of our lives, right?"

"Something like that."

_**I can't believe you think that's a good idea.**_

"It's the only one we got." she whispered before she turned her attention back to the Commander. "I'll move first and get into place; you follow me as soon as you see me get into position."

"You know, it's really weird to take commands from someone else."

_**Oh yeah, he's not going to make it. **_

With a shake of her head, she followed the protection of the wall before she quickly darted out among the debris piles; just barely able to keep herself out of view of the Geist soldiers. It took her some quick thinking and quick surveying of the area before she found the perfect spot to snipe. Her body felt like it was on the edge of burning with complete pain as she forced herself to climb over the tops of several cars before she grew closer to the needed area. Only a few more yards and she would be able to- she found her body running cold for a moment at the sound of bullets firing behind her. They weren't at her though.

_**Not surprised he managed to screw this up.**_

She glanced back at the bullets and watched as the Geist soldiers began to filter into the abandoned building she was in just moments before. She needed to go back but, without the soldiers guarding the tank, this was her best chance to strike. It took a second of hesitation before she raced herself to the highest peak she could find. Hands fumbled for her gunrod for a moment before she whipped it out from behind her and locked it into place at her side; her boots skidded slightly on the debris as she found herself perched just a few feet above the tank itself with only a few yards to spare between them. She had one shot...

There was an eerie, straining creak as the slightly deteriorated tank began to roll; it's massive barrel slowly inched its way into her direction.

But it wasn't going to have the chance to strike.

The last of her power filtered out for the last attack as the sky above her began to roll with heavy clouds; a crack of thunder shattered the echoes of bullets and a flash of lightning above them lit up the nighttime sky. The barrel inched closer and closer to her as another bolt of lightning appeared even closer and brighter than the first. The last crack of thunder was all she needed as she grabbed control of the closet bolt of lightning and tore it down from the sky. An explosion of fire and hot metal erupted as the bolt struck the tank dead on just as the barrel turned to fully face her. The lightning detonated the missile inside and she watched as it backfired and erupted the entire vehicle from the inside. The explosion was all that was needed to quickly gain the attention of the nearby soldiers and she watched as a few of them raced back into view to try and spot her.

Unfortunately for them, she was out of sight at this point.

_**You are on the fast track to getting yourself killed.**_

"We're both in it to deal with it then." she remarked as she forced herself to move as far away as possible. After such a move, she barely had the energy to keep her weapon in hand let alone to try and fire it; she was in no condition to fight. Her best bet was to get some distance away and make a wide turn to get back to Maxwell. If there were still soldiers there... well she guessed she would just have to figure that out when she got there.

_**If you get there.**_


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: Ahh, yeah yet another delay. Even I'm disappointed at the lack of updates and my inability to keep it consistantly steady. Even so though, I'm amazed by the people who still read and review it. For what it's worth, thank you, even though it feels as though I don't really deserve it. So hopefully forgiveness can be found somewhere in the near future.**

The sound of a massive explosion just behind him signaled that at least Alicia had been able to pull off her part; the feel of hot bullets whizzing right past his head said that he had managed to complete his half of the plan but also managed to fuck it up somewhere along the lines as well. He didn't really expect them to come running at him so early on and had kind of hoped to have a bit more luxury space between him and the Geist soldiers. That however, was not the case this time. No, no he was just stuck behind some godforsaken pile of wreckage while bullets were actually piercing through the rusted steel of broken cars and tin sidings that provided him with little protection. He couldn't really risk getting hurt anymore than he already was- his ribs were burning up to his throat by now with the constant movement- and a bullet to the shoulder was the last thing he needed; well that and a bullet to the head. Now his list was complete. Panting, he braced himself as the tin panel to his right exploded with more bullets and seemed to shred apart at the heat alone; he was mentally cursing to himself as the onslaught of bullets gave him very few options. It was too dangerous to try and peek around to fire off a clip or two of his own; it was too dangerous to even move from this one spot and he only speculated as such because the steel beam that had fallen behind him was too think to shoot through. But how long was that exactly going to last?

And where was Alicia? Did she get out in time? After destroying the tank, he didn't think she would have enough energy to power any more of her magic; this of which, put them in a very difficult position, one of which he didn't know how the hell to get out of. The commotion alone should've been enough to signal the others but like they had trained before, they would all be taking cover rather than confronting the enemy headfirst. So that knocked them out of the equation... where did that put him? Oh yeah, still in the same damn spot he's been stuck in for the past ten minutes. Carefully pulling his gun against his chest, he checked the clip before he snapped it back into place. There was no other choice. He couldn't stay here forever and he sure as hell wasn't going to die out here either. They weren't going to get his corpse and wear his skin- that was his job.

"It's going to take a Hail Mary to win this game." Maxwell whispered before he pushed himself away from the debris pile and continued down the litter-filled path to his right. A multitude of things were going through his head at the simple motion- mostly regrets on the stupid decision but hey, as long as a bullet wasn't present yet, he was doing okay. He could feel bullets striking and bouncing off his already damaged armor- surprised he had yet to be hit- oh no wait, there was a hot flash of pain. The sudden explosion of pain across his midsection nearly sent him tumbling but he just barely managed to get a hold of his footing to keep going on. Just a few more feet. That was all he needed. Hot blood pumped itself free from his torn midsection and seemed to leave a red trail behind him to make his path of descent. Damnit, the pain was crippling but he couldn't fall just yet; he had one more objective to complete. If it helped his team, then it was necessary; if it helped Alicia... then it would be worth its price in pain. He kept his gun in one hand as he managed to duck behind carefully placed debris build up before he saw his destination in sight.

Come on, run fast Cougar.

He barely caught a break as he practically threw himself out into the open; mentally cheering when his plan had worked. He had completely flanked the soldiers, who were still shooting the area he had once been hiding at. Just a few quick triggers and they would all be mowed down. The hot pain that crippled him seemed to settle in every limb as his aim shook in his unstable arms- calm yourself, you can do this. He closed his eyes and pulled the trigger; trying to focus more on the bullets and the sound of bodies being thrown to the ground and not on how the kickback of the gun wrecked his body even more. There was shouted screams just before they dissolved into dying gasps; guns going off as they shot off into the sky while bodies hit the ground- those bullets only rained back down on them seconds later. He forced himself to open his eyes and look at the massacre that was left. Blood sprayed out in every direction while bodies contorted and convulsed on the ground like some kind of ritual dance reserved for only those of the dying. It was an eerie scene but one that was always celebrated. Maybe when he got rid of this headache, he could celebrate.

Now to find Alicia.

Or maybe a nice place to lie down. Yeah, that option sounded better.

It felt like a wave of cold numbing water washed over him and drowned him in its oddly relaxing grip. He couldn't hear the sound of his weapon as it dropped to the ground; his cold fingers barely recognizing that it had been lost. This feeling felt familiar though... so oddly familiar.

* * *

It felt like a cold panic hit her for a moment as she turned back at the rush of bullets; once more, they were in the opposite direction of where she was. Which meant only one thing; she had to find him before they did. Her body resisted to follow her but she forced her muscles to give into her will. Her legs were trembling but they were still swift and agile as she balanced her way through the uneven ground.

"Where is he, Darkness?"

_**How should I know?**_

There was a sense of sarcasm in his voice suddenly but it gave no doubt that he didn't have a clue where the Commander was; even if he did, he wouldn't tell her regardless. She pushed the matter aside and took it into her own hands. If she had to risk putting herself out in open danger... it was a risk she could take. Her gunrod swung dangerously side to side behind her as she left no room for breaks; listening as the gunshots got worse the closer and closer she got to the wreck. She had worked on taking a wider route to find him but now she was regretting it. If she didn't get there in time... no, that wasn't going to happen. A little pain and some Geist soldiers were going to do very little to stop her; she was a witch after all, and nothing could stop a witch.

It felt like her body ran cold as the onslaught of gunshots seemed to intensify for a split second before it ended moments later. She couldn't see much in her sight- the smoke from the ruined tank was blocking a majority of her view on the matter. She had to get closer. Practically leaping up and over the nearest debris collection, she threw herself into the aftermath of the battle; the ruined tank was to her left and... a collection of twisting, Geist bodies were to her right. Where was the shooter? Where was Maxwell? The sound of yet another body hitting the ground caught her attention and she watched as the blonde-haired Commander collapsed just a few yards away from her.

_**Found him.**_

"Maxwell..."

There was no hesitation.

No second thoughts.

No... nothing. Not a part of her acted in reluctance.

She pushed herself towards him and occupied the space that surrounded him; the broken gravel was unforgiving on her knees as hands moved quick to roll him onto his back. Crimson trails broke free from the corners of his lips; fingertips seemed to unconsciously balance on the bleeding mess of his midsection- just a few inches below his armor. His skin had paled to the point where it was difficult to even point out his scars now; the short, shallow breathing that filled his lungs was difficult to spot underneath the damaged armor that had protected his sternum from the bullet storm.

_**It appears Mr. Cougar... has been hunted and poached.**_

"Maybe hunted but not defeated..."

A long inhale moved his chest a bit more before it left as a long, gasped exhale. "And the crowds go wild... it was the winning shot for the home town..."

_**You're right, he's just more stupid than he was before.**_

"Maxwell?"

"I'm here... yeah, I'm right... right here." he muttered as he attempted to take another deep inhale. "It's all good."

"That was stupid." she started; stopping when he only seemed to chuckle at her remark.

"But oh so clever... Those bastards didn't even see me." he replied; giving himself a weak fist pump. "It was perfect."

Even in pain and more than likely dying... it seemed like nothing could change him; nothing was going to get him to let go of that... unique personality of his. "You... yeah... yeah maybe it was perfect."

"I'd ask for a high-five if I could lift my arm but I'll just cash in on it later."

_**... Don't get too attached.**_

She watched as his short moment of enjoyment slowly began to ease away and his chest fell back into his low, shallow breathing. He had already lost a lot of blood from before and losing more now wasn't helping; he had practically pushed himself to the point of exhaustion and for what?

She couldn't let him just... end like this. It would bring the entire team down and who would lead them then? Who would be the only one bringing up the moral with stupid jokes and humor? She just couldn't let it happen.

Somewhere in the back of her mind, she heard Darkness let out a long, deep sigh in mild agitation but cut him from her attention span for now. She reached back to her gunrod and felt at the broom-like ending before she easily pierced her hand on one of the spike-like tail pieces. The pain was easily subdued and she brought it back to examine the wound; she really couldn't afford that much blood loss either but... for what it was worth, it was necessary. Carefully, she placed the wound over his bloodied midsection and she could almost feel the way her blood began to slowly piece the flesh back together. It wasn't a technique she used that often, but in extreme cases, it was necessary and called for without hesitation. It only took a few seconds before she removed her hand and noted that the gushing injury had been sealed closed; he would still need to recover from the blood that had already been lost, but at least now he stood a chance.

"Alicia! Maxwell!"

The call of their duel names pulled her attention from the unconscious Commander and to the echo of the voices; it was the rest of the squadron. It didn't take long before she spotted movement just through the abandoned building they had used as shelter previously. Slowly pushing herself up to her feet, she watched as Marilyn headed over first with Jackson close behind her.

"What happened here? Oh God, is he-"

"He's only unconscious for now." Alicia interrupted; watching as the woman instantly seemed to relax in relief. "He must've knocked himself out somehow."

"Yes well, that's very much like him to do so." Jackson nodded with a light, yet almost nervous chuckle. "Shit, we... we should've gotten here sooner, we didn't think something like this was going to go down; we were just planning on letting the tank run its way through and catch up to it later."

"As reckless as it was, I had planned on taking it out at the first given opportunity." she started. "However, Maxwell showed up at the last minute to assist me."

"Really? Seems more like he made a hassle of it, what with him being unconscious and all."

"Butch, shut it."


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: Thanks for the reviews, guys; it's nice to know that even though I'm slow at updating now and again, it's not too conflicting on everyone. Your support is greatly appreciated!**

"Come on Jackson, give us a status report!" Marilyn called through the closed remains of a door that separated the two rooms. She had been pacing nervously back and forth across the broken floorboards, barely minding where she was stepping, as she waited for the medic to come back with some kind of news. One hand tangled in her hair as she released a long, exhausted yet somewhat irritated sigh; the suspense was practically killing her... she had to know what was going on and what would be happening in the near future. If they lost Maxwell now... hell she didn't know what they would be able to do without him.

Alicia found a place on one of the more intact wall pieces to lean back against; taking the down time to rest her aching body that had gone into the far reaches of numbness at this point. She couldn't recall a time where she had actually pushed her power to this point, to the point where it felt like it was draining off of her energy and too much of a loss would put her in some kind of coma. It took awhile to get herself back under control and regulate all of her systems again- something Darkness insisted on reminding her again and again. She knew she had a limit, but that limit was much higher than anyone else's here... so if she had to make some sacrifices, then so be it. It was worth convincing herself that it had to be done- for survival reasons of course. Somewhere in the past hour or so, they managed to bring Maxwell back to their homemade safety house and pulled together some more supplies to stable out the building a bit; she didn't think any more Geist would attack but it was always random with them and they enjoyed ambushes far too much for comfort.

"Jackson!"

"I'm coming, I'm coming." he shouted back to her; shuffling around in the next room as he sounded as though he was pulling his medical kits back together. It took a few more moments before he pulled the door open between them. His face was wrecked with signs of exhaustion and bad news. "Alright, well uh... I think it's better if we all sit down while I go over this... 'report' for you."

"I don't like this." Marilyn whispered as she slowly looked around the wrecked room for some kind of object that could be substitute for a chair. "Fuck it, let's just sit on the floor- or better yet, you can just give it to us straight and no sugar coating it."

The medic sighed and shook his head as one hand rubbed at his sore neck. "Alright well... he took a bullet to the midsection; it didn't hit anything major but he lost a lot of blood that he doesn't exactly have to spare right now. I managed to recover the bullet, it was almost a through-and-through but I think it might've hit his chest plate or something, not too sure on all the details. Anyways, he's not conscious right now, which should be a given, but... at this point, I'm not entirely sure if he'll even wake up."

Alicia watched as the muscles in Marilyn's back stiffen and tightened as her entire body seemed to pull itself into a rigid position. It took a few moments before she slowly released the built up tension.

"What do we in the meantime?" Marilyn questioned; almost frightened by what the answer might be.

"Well, we can give him a few days and see what happens." Jackson started. "And... if nothing happens, then I guess we can either pray or... move on with the company that we have now. If we're lucky, we might hit one of the nearby secret bases and be able to relocate with another squadron... I don't like to think on that option though."

"You said something about these... 'secret bases.'" Alicia started; catching the eye of the other two. "What are they?"

"They're like... tiny deposits of soldiers here or there, they kind of act like checkpoints." Jackson explained. "We hit one early on in this mission, it was the destroyed sewer one, do you remember that one?" he watched as she slowly nodded in response. "Well, that was one of our bases but... communications aren't always working so we don't know which ones are still alive and which ones are buried." he paused a moment to rub his eyes with one hand as a soft yawn seemed to rise from his lips. "They're normally placed either inside a city or just outside of the city limits... I know there used to be a few around in these areas but again, they could've been overran and looted at this point."

"Do you have a map that you could use and show me where they are?" Alicia asked.

_**And just what are you planning?**_

"Are you... are you serious?" Marilyn remarked.

She pushed herself from the wall space and slowly walked over to the two- closing the space between the three of them. "If we took him to one of these 'checkpoints' would he have a better chance at survival?"

"Well yeah... of course, they sure as hell can do a lot more than I can but... it could be dangerous and you're really in no shape to make that kind of journey; plus we don't know if they're even still there." Jackson replied. "Don't get me wrong, if we could find one, we can save him but... he wouldn't want you to risk your life in the process of it."

For a brief moment, she swore it felt like her insides flared up at the remark; it gave away to this fluttering kind of feeling she couldn't quite understand. "He means a lot to this team; if he falls, we all fall. I know for certain you can hold this position and defend this area; I know I still have enough power to defend myself out there."

_**No you don't.**_

"We have no other choice... I have this feeling that I'm the one who put him in this situation so I'll pull him back out. Show me where these bases are and I might be able to return by dawn tomorrow."

The two officers seemed to be in a conflicting position as they both agreed and disagreed over the matter; it was a mix of clueless expressions and worried glances that were passed between one another before Jackson himself gave in to a defeating sigh and slowly nodded. "Butch has a map of the city; I'll give you the coordinates."

"I think I should at least accompany you." Marilyn offered.

"No, I have to do this alone."

_**Quite the lone warrior now, are we?**_

* * *

She watched as the medic carefully unfolded and laid out the worn down map that had taken him longer than he wanted to get from Butch. One hand cradled his chin as he looked over the landmarks and the red and blue lines that, at this point, were really no longer useable- those roads and streams were no longer existent. He seemed to realize what he wanted after a few moments of study and padded down his vest for some kind of writing utensil; it took him just a few short seconds before he managed to locate the pen he had been searching for. "Alright, now listen closely because a lot of these streets and buildings aren't here anymore and... even the debris I had used may not be there anymore. Base one, is located right here, just below the library- or where it used to be- on the corner of ninth and Stanford; they're a small base but they'll still be helpful in this kind of situation. Now, Base two is outside of the city, and they've taken over some kind of adoption building that used to be out there- they're the heavy duty ones, the last time I checked so if anything, they're the ones you'll want to run into- again though, they're further from reach so just head towards the closest ones. Base three... they're on the dangerous side of town, just along that forest line to the West; they'll be helpful since they've had to heavily guard their building from those weird ghost things and they'll have the protection we need... it's all a risk though. To be honest, all of these are a risk but... at this point we have to risk everything or lose everything, not a lot of middle ground to stand on."

Alicia nodded and glanced at the map once more. "I'll attempt to be back by sunrise tomorrow, just keep yourself alive by then."

"Are you sure you don't want to take like Butch with you or anything?" Marilyn asked.

"No, I work better by myself and I'll move faster without having to worry about someone else."

"Yeah but we were kind of hoping you could take him along, somehow lose him along the way and then we'd be set." she shrugged. "But we should probably handle Maxwell first and Butch second."

_**I've got a better idea. Let's leave and never come back.**_

"You should probably get some rest for before you move out; this is a big city and it's going to take a lot of time just searching around for results that may or may not be there." Jackson advised. "It'll give us time to go over some safety plans and try to make this place a bit more stable."

"That's quite alright, if I leave now, I'll be able to save time." Alicia started.

"It's still dark outside, and who knows how many soldiers could be out at this time." Marilyn reminded. "I think you should at least wait till sunrise-"

"I'll be wasting too much time, it'll be better if I leave now." she reinstated.

_**It would've been better if you had left a long time ago.**_

"She's got a point..." Jackson replied. "We're on limited time and we're pushing it enough as it is; we can get you some supplies ready and have you ready to set off in ten. If you want this map you can take it with you."

"You don't think we should put more planning into this?" Marilyn asked.

"What else is there for us to plan?"

She slowly backed away as the two seemed more preoccupied with their conversation to even notice her leave of attendance. Stepping out into the ruined corridor, she took the shortest route that would put her back outside and walked down along the crumbling pieces of concrete around. The map was already stitched together in her mind, the locations of the bases were at the top of the list and she made a mental note of the time of day; she planned on being back by sunrise tomorrow... and with her was going to be the help they needed. She stepped out into the dark of the early morning once more and studied what was around her; if her guess was correct, they were miles away from any of the known bases, which meant she had very few hours to waste if she wanted to hit all three of them.

_**Why do you always put yourself into a position to be used like this?**_

"There's a difference between being used and doing something that has to be done." Alicia remarked. "This is my choice; I made the offer."


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: Another update, hopefully earlier than the last one was. **

_**Well, fearless leader, where do you think we are now?**_

"I don't know, why don't you tell me."

A long, agitated groan echoed through her head and she could feel the demon's temper raising; it would only take a few more hours of walking before he snapped. Or maybe she just liked to convince herself that that would happen. One hand moved to rest on the swinging gunrod behind her, as though to assure herself that it was still there and still in one piece. At this time, in this condition and out in the opening like this, an ambush could happen at any time with just one given word of it... she had to make sure to keep herself on full alert at all times. It was a tad bit difficult to do with her one eye still slightly impaired but there was little else she could do about that besides work around it. And so far, she was doing fairly well with keeping up with her surroundings. Nothing more than broken shells of what had once been a prosperous city. From the looks of the damages and the extent of destruction, she assumed it was one of the first to go down... she didn't know what city they were in or even if it was big enough to be considered significant; at this point, the Geist didn't really care much for it, they were just here to cause destruction and mayhem.

_**I don't know if you've been noticing but... their numbers are falling.**_

"How badly?"

_**Hmmm... I'd give it a few more years before they're completely wiped out. **_

"That's quite a bit of time... I'm not entirely sure if the human race will be able to last that much longer." she started; watching her step as she created her own shortcut and walked through a shrapnel-infested playground. The sound of glass shards breaking under foot echoed with every step.

_**...You're actually admitting doubt in their ability to last that long?**_

"It's not that..."

_**This is about that Commander again, isn't it? **_

"As far as I know, he's the only one who is capable of surviving this; he's the only one that we know of who can bring other people together and take down these Devil's rejects... If they lose him, there's no telling what will happen."

_**Do you mean to say if 'you' lost him?**_

"This is not the time for that." Alicia interrupted; pausing a moment as she stood by the melancholic skeleton of a swing set. She swore she just heard something... or maybe she felt it instead. No wait... there it was again. The ground vibrated underneath her, just lightly at first before it was followed by an even heavier tremor. She stood completely still and felt the vibrations course through her body and seemingly shake the blood in her vessels from wall to wall. Something wasn't right... the vibrations weren't from something falling and hitting the ground, or like a building collapsing... no, they were from footsteps.

Very large footsteps at that.

_**You have got to be fucking with me.**_

That wasn't too good.

Slowly, she turned back in the direction she assumed it was coming from; spotting the massive glut of a figure from quite a distance, then again, they were hard to miss. It's massive body ran parallel to even the tallest of skyscrapers; it's head able to top just about any building in sight, although at this point most of them had been destroyed to the point that they were no longer an example of relativity to the creature's height. The face was stretched over the massive tissue lump of a head with little to no neck visible; multiple mouths broke open over shoulders and chest, each one equipped with a set of teeth that seemed to snap eagerly at the air- as though expecting some kind of prey to be there. The giants varied with every sighting, in fact they were getting fewer and fewer with every passing month. This one had massive iron railing-like pipes merged in to it's right arm, almost as though it had equipped itself with another weapon of the sort. Most of them were seen welding some kind of heavy machinery and yet... this did not; she didn't question why and merely thanked whoever was listening that it no longer held the weapon. But, gun or no gun, it still posed a heavy risk and danger to anyone around. Including herself.

_**I hate to say it but at this point, our best option would be to avoid its sight and run.**_

"If we let it go, it could find those bases or it could find the others and it will destroy them." Alicia reminded. "I can't let that happen."

_**That is true but it's not a good reason to get ourselves killed either, now is it? Now, we can play this the easy way or the hard way. We can stay out of it's sight for now and find those bases, maybe warn them and see if they have the power to take it down themselves, or you can attempt to fight it now and fail horribly at it.**_

He had a point.

In this condition, she couldn't risk taking another serious hit, which just one stomp from that thing could shatter her spine... She would have to wait for that base before she engaged it in combat. It was still quite a ways off in the distance so she wouldn't have to worry too much of it seeing her now. Clearing the park area, she found herself back on an unmarked road and headed into the nearby alleyway for another shortcut. It was wrecked with trash cans, partly decomposed bodies, wet newspapers and other things she didn't want to question or think on. Whatever was crunching and breaking beneath her boot could stay as it was, just some form of trash in the back of her mind.

Jackson said the first base would on Ninth and Stanford... and as far as she could tell, she was no where close to being near them; the second base was outside of town and would have to be one of the last ones she hit; base three however... he said was close to a forest and... she could see the treetops from here. That was the riskiest one but it was the closest at this point, that's the only thing that mattered to her. Pushing herself free from the ugly confines of the alleyway, she worked herself closer and closer towards that ever growing tree line.

_**And what if they refuse to help? Ever think of that possibility?**_

"I don't think that will be a problem." she replied as she kicked her way through more and more debris land fields.

_**Oh? And why is that?**_

"If I have to force them to aid us, then so be it."

_**And if they're hostile instead?**_

"Then I will be just as hostile if I have to."

_**Please, all you would have to do is remove a few layers of gauze from that hideous outfit and you would have any kind of support you want.**_

She forgot she was still dressed in the duds that Marilyn had scrapped together for her. Easy to overlook

_**For you, it will be.**_

"Must you carry on this conversation?"

* * *

"I can't believe she just up and left by herself."

Jackson sighed as he watched the blonde-haired woman walk back and forth across the beaten floor; pacing the same broken tiles again and again till he was almost positive that they were going to give away eventually. "Think about it Marilyn, she's pretty much one of few people here who can actually handle herself. And if you think about it, we would've only been slowing her down. Plus, it would be better if we stayed here with Maxwell instead."

"Believe me, Jackson, I know; I understand that." she remarked; pausing just long enough to rest her tired hands on her aching hips. "I'm just... we've always relied on a buddy system whenever we go out scouting."

"Yeah but if you think about it, her buddy got injured; she's going to do whatever she can to make sure he goes out on another scouting trip with her."

"I guess you have a point..."

"You know I always do." he chuckled; rubbing at the back of his sore neck. "Now then, I think I'm going to go relieve Butch of his watchman duties and let him get some rest."

Marilyn wrinkled her nose for a moment. "Do you have to? He's just going to come back in here and bug me."

"And?"

"Fuck you Jackson."


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N: Decided to do a double post since I've been making everyone wait so long and everyone's been really supportive lately! Thanks!**

She couldn't be too far now.

She could see the roots of the forest. Once there, she could simply follow them till they lead her to the base.

_**Isn't it lovely how things seem so simple at first?**_

"I've already planned for something disastrous to happen." she remarked; feeling the hot aching in her legs return. The miles of walking were playing on her injuries now and she could feel what felt like acid seeping into the joints of her knees and ankles, but... she couldn't stop now. Not when she was this close to her destination. The pain was easy to set aside when she switched her focus to something else. Like finding help, battling the Geist giant, ridding the world of this Demon infestation once and for all, saving Maxwell or even just wondering when she was going to be able to get her other outfit back. That last bit seemed kind of shallow but as long as it took her focus off of the aches and pains, anything else was worth focusing on.

_**Wait a minute...**_

"What is it?"

_**Something isn't right.**_

She started to question him but stopped herself in the motion; picking up on the cracking of debris in the distance, the short echo of rushed footsteps- the kind that were hoped to not have been heard. Someone else was out here with her; maybe someone from the base, maybe an enemy instead. If it was a Geist soldier, they would've already struck by now with their rancid comments and filthy languages; it had to be human. Only a human soldier would sneak around like that. She decided to pretend to ignore it for now, it would give them the illusion of the upper hand when in reality... she had known about their presence for quite awhile instead. It would give them the opportunity to 'ambush' her while it gave her the opportunity to put herself into a weak position... only to refuse the roles later one.

_**Perhaps the illusion of helplessness will help you in this kind of situation.**_

"Perhaps... but by now, they've already noticed the gunrod."

**Touché.**

It only took a few more steps, a few small yards before she watched as an unmarked soldier jumped in front of her. A battered and beaten machine gun in hand but he held it against himself with enough significance to show that it did indeed still fire and she should not press her luck with it. Like a domino effect, she heard the sounds of the other soldiers jumping from their places to surround her; giving her a few yards of stretching room but little else.

"Who are you?"

_**How cliche.**_

She silently agreed with the demon. "That might not be important to you right now-"

"I don't know if you've noticed, but there's a Geist giant heading this way right now so I have very little time and little patience to deal with you." the soldier interrupted; the slight shake in his body read that he was just as nervous about the giant as anyone should be. She wondered if they even had the resources to take it down.

_**But you do.**_

"Like you just said, there's a Geist giant headed this way, I just passed him by a mile or so ago." she remarked; catching the added fear in the man. "He's a lot closer than you expected."

It took a moment before the soldier nodded. "At this rate, we have very little time to even deploy one of our tanks..."

"You're too busy fighting... 'ghost' too, right?"

"We had a Walnut Head around here earlier who was up our asses and destroying everything we had just finished remodeling." the man continued. "Fuck, it destroyed barricades and everything we had set in place to slow down those goddamn 'ghost' shitting creatures. And now we have a goddamn Giga on our hands and... whatever you are. Some kind of physic or something?"

_**Just shoot him and put him out of his misery already.**_

"I can help you."

"Is that so?" the man questioned; sharing a look that was both a mix of being skeptical and being relieved. "How? You look like hell spat you out two minutes ago."

_**Oh, how funny.**_

"I can kill that Giant for you, in return for something else." Alicia continued; keeping an eye on how the man seemed to becoming more and more suspicious of her and yet, wanting to believe her just the same. "I was traveling with another military team but their Commander was severely injured; he'll be dead in two days if he doesn't get help."

It took the man only seconds this time before he nodded. "Deal. You take care of that Giant, we take care of your Commander."

"Good. Once this battle is over, I'll take you to him."

"I'll call this in and let the Sergeant know." he nodded before he pulled the radio from a strap on his shoulder. "Sergeant Cladson, I wish to make a request for the medical team to prep an escape vehicle for an emergency call."

"What's going on out there?" the radio crackled; a deep voice on the other end rumbled through the breaking frequency.

"Yes well... it's a long story Sergeant but-"

She felt the ground vibrate underneath her once more.

It was already here.

"Take your men inside." Alicia ordered as she turned to head back towards the creature; stopping the moment she noticed it peek around the corner of yet another shattered building. There was a collection of surprised curses and fumbles as each soldier turned around to face the mutilated creature. Fingertips touched the cold metal of her gunrod as she swung it around and braced it against her side. Machine Gun wasn't going to get the job done; it was too far of a distance for her shotgun; her cannon was only useful against tanks and helicopters... that left her with one option left. "Stand back, please."

Energy raced through her fingertips and in a second, the gunrod itself seemed to fire up to a temperature that far exceeded the human calibration for heat. She prepared herself for the added weight and tightened her grip as the gunrod itself went through its own metamorphosis. All it took was one calculation for aiming, one trigger finger and a steady grip. The roar of bullets deafened anyone who continued to stand too close to her; her entire body shook as the Gatling gun rocked her entire skeleton and rattled with her muscular system. With her body in the state that it was, every rotation of the countless barrels sent her into a fiery hot sense of pain but the sound of the bullets piercing the blob of tissue on the left side of the Giant's chest was enough of a painkiller for her. It took several rounds before the bullets popped the outer skin and exposed the weakness she had been seeking.

The Giant snarled and snapped with pain as the bullets forced it back before a massive swing from one arm sent an entire building crashing down into the streets. She couldn't allow for herself to be distracted by it though and pushed herself forward; forcing every bit of her remaining energy to travel with the massive weapon. There was a cold, sadistic kind of satisfaction that came from watching as the more bullets that pierced the body, the more and more it backed away from her with a new chorus of shrieks. She could feel beads of sweat coursing down her body till it seemed to layer itself on top of her skin.

_**At this rate, you're going to kill yourself.**_

She couldn't tell if she should believe him or not.

He was probably right though.

She had never pushed herself to this kind of extent before. She had lost more and more energy over these last few days and had regained very little back in return; her physical body was suffering from fractures, blood loss and near organ failure. Just because she was spat back out of hell... she wasn't immortal.

This was what it was like being mortal again, wasn't it?

But this time was different...

She wasn't on a plane.

She wasn't headed into the sea.

She wasn't going to fall.


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N: I'm glad to see that everyone was enjoying the updates! I'm actually quite surprised I managed to type almost three chapters in one night, and I wondered why I wasn't able to do that sooner. Anyways, here's another update just to sweeten the deal. Thanks for the reviews!**

Maybe somewhere in the back of her head, she heard Darkness screaming at her.

She couldn't tell what he was saying; all she heard was some kind of high-pitched tone ringing in her ears- it felt like it was vibrating behind her eyes.

A cold rush of heat expanded through her body but it felt like it was chilling her instead; freezing her to the core till it was on the brink of shattering into tiny little shards. In the far back of her mind, she felt something snap; she felt something break in some kind of sense. There was some tornado of darkness that flooded through her and seemed to enlighten her senses to a level she had never experienced before. She could almost see every bullet in slow-motion; she could hear every crunch as the bullets penetrated flesh; as they penetrated through the thick chest cavity and erupted out of the back.

It felt like a cold explosion.

And then, in the turn of a second, she felt as though she was on fire.

It felt like her entire outside shell was shedding itself; clothing and gauze burned clean off of her flesh before black leather tied around her slender form. The leather felt like it was suffocating her at first before it tightened just once again and released her afterwards; her body radiated with an odd sense of energy that fueled her and propelled her forward.

Dark eyes looked up towards the wounded, dying creature.

The energy pumped itself into every tiny shell; every tiny shell tore another hole into the creature till it's entire left side appeared to had been blown completely out. A bellowing roar echoed into the sky as the creature rocked back and forth in some failed attempt to regain itself. She tightened her grip on the weapon and felt herself throw her body into a new direction; angling the gun higher till those same bullets were ripping through the Geist's neck instead. It was a horrific massacre as dark-colored liquid spewed out and seemed to flood the streets below... but she found it oddly calming.

She found it oddly... addicting.

The Giga rocked once more before it toppled backwards and cratered itself into the street; the following tremor shook through her body and brought her weakened legs to their breaking point.

She felt herself hit the ground; managing to catch herself on just one knee.

A white flash blinded her and she winced at the light; keeping her eyes closed for a few short minutes before she slowly opened them with caution. The world around her seemed to have frozen itself in mid-motion; the colors turned into a gray-scale like theme; it was soundless; it was motionless.

Where was she?

_**Are you aware of what the hell you just did?**_

The sound of Darkness's voice gave her some comfort as she pushed herself to her feet; regaining her lost footing, she impaled her gunrod into the ground for safe measures just in case. She had heard him but... it wasn't from inside of her head... it had been from outside of it instead.

"Darkness?"

She turned at the echo of footsteps and watched as that same, dark shadow of a figure headed towards her. His gait was calmer than how his tone had been; his colorless eyes were narrowed though as a slight frown curved at his pale lips. He didn't look too happy.

_**Damn right I'm not happy.**_

His lips didn't move with the words, instead it seemed like he was solely communicating with her with just his mind alone. "What happened? What is this?"

Those eyes narrowed even more and almost seemed to flare outward. **_Well, let's just say it's a momentary holding place for you and I, so we can speak._**

"Why?" she questioned; suspicious of why he needed a place like this to speak with her.

_**I was getting to that.**_ he huffed. **_What you just did was trigger what I would like to call a... 'reservation' of power. It's like a small collection of energy I keep in case something happens that would... severely threaten your life. I control it and yet, you managed to break into it instead. That doesn't make me happy._**

"That's a bad thing because...?"

_**Because, if I were to let that reservation rush out all at once... who knows what could happen. It could ultimately destroy this human body of yours, it could give you Omega-like powers, it could... turn you into a mindless killing machine and make you just like those Geist beings only worse. In fact... for all I know, you could somehow manage to wrestle power from myself and ultimately decimate this place. I don't know what could happen and frankly to say, I don't want to. So the next time you... do whatever it was that you did, let me handle it. Until then... I don't feel comfortable allowing you to use 'that' much power for now.**_

He was putting a restriction on her now?

At this point, she didn't want to worry with it. She just wanted to get rid of the Giga and get Maxwell that help.

_**Your outfit's better now.**_

She looked down at his remark and took note of her returned uniform. The black leather fit her like a glove and her outer injuries had been healed; her right wrist was no longer fracture and she had regained her sight back.

It was like she had never been injured in the first place.

_**I wouldn't go that far but... you certainly look better.**_

"If we're done here Darkness, then I would like to get back on track to what we were doing here in the first place." Alicia spoke.

_**Telling me what to do now?**_ he questioned with an arch of a single eyebrow.

"Yes."

"What the hell was that?"

Alicia looked up as the gray-tone melted back into color and the frozen soldiers were... well still frozen to their spots; they were either in shock or just stuck in fear. "What that was... is really nothing of concern right now."

The commanding soldier was caught between looking at her and back at the defeated Giant behind her. He was still trying to figure out what had happened and if his eyes had betrayed him in some sense... it had all happened so quickly it seemed; it took them hours to sink one with a tank and yet, she knocked it out in just minutes. Fingers grasped at his radio once more. "Sergeant... about that medical vehicle, is it ready for service?"

* * *

"Marilyn. Marilyn. Marilyn."

She looked up at the repeated call of her name and watched as the dark-haired man walked towards her. Part of her wanted to roll her eyes but the other half was far too exhausted to do anything about it; she couldn't understand why she was so tired though, it wasn't like she had actually done much aside from worry. Okay well that was pretty energy-consuming at her level. One hand slowly ran down her face before she forced herself to converse with the man. "What do you want Butch?"

He shrugged lightly and carefully took the empty space next to her; making himself comfortable against the wall behind him. "Nothing, I just figured since Jackson was on guard duty now, and Dave and Nash were on the rooftops- or what we kind of 'dubbed' the rooftops, that you might get lonely or something. You know, I just thought I could come over here and... make you laugh."

"You're stupid, you know that."

"Yeah but hey, I'm cute when I'm stupid."

A light chuckle escaped her before she could stop it, but at this point she supposed there wasn't much to care for about it. "No comment."

"Oh come on, throw me a bone or something." Butch remarked with his own chuckle; a hand running through his hair. "So... do you think she's going to come back in time?"

She looked over at him and tried to catch a grasp on that just barely concerned look on his face. "What? You're telling me the ever-confident and 'never a care in the world' Butch is actually... scared?"

"I'm being serious here." he replied; although the grin on his face seemed to say otherwise. "I'm just asking."

"It's Alicia and... it has to deal with Maxwell, I think she'll be here in time, yes." Marilyn nodded before she slowly reached over and patted him on the shoulder. "Don't worry that pretty little head of yours off just yet. Just wait till Maxwell is back in fighting shape and acting like there isn't a sense of danger in this world."

"You're right, we should take advantage of this moment while we have it."

"Butch... I'll give you three seconds to take your arm off my shoulders."


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N: I deeply apologize for yet another long, delayed wait and for the shortness, and nowhere going of this chapter. **

"Aw shit. Aw shit, aw shit, aw shit."

Marilyn jerked herself awake at the sudden shouts that echoed through the ruined building; the same words bouncing themselves off the walls around her, repeating themselves over and over again. She glanced around for a moment to try and find the source before she quickly pushed herself away from the dozing soldier next to her; cringing slightly as Butch started to wake himself up just the same. Note to self, forget that ever happened. "Ugh, alright uh... what the hell? Jackson?" she called as she slowly forced herself up to her feet; using the wall behind her as a support. "Jackson! Was that you?"

The floorboards creaked as an approaching set of footsteps called for her attention.

"Marilyn, Butch, we've got a vehicle approaching our vicinity and it's approaching pretty quick; I've got Nash and Dave up top to keep another set of eyes out for us." Jackson answered as he came around the nearest corner. "From this distance, we can't exactly tell who the vehicle belongs to but I don't think we're in any position to let our guards down."

"Great... okay, look Butch and I will take to the streets and see if we can't get a closer look at it." Marilyn started before she stopped herself as another idea came to mind. "On second thought, you and I can take to the streets and leave Butch here to keep a look out."

"That's not funny." the second man muttered dryly as he pushed one hand through his untamed hair; ruffling it up to get back into some kind of form or style.

"What are you going to get a closer look at?"

The addition of a fourth voice caught Marilyn off-guard as she turned to face off with the unknown figure; one hand going for the small pistol firearm at her waist. Fingertips were just grasping the heavy handle before she stopped upon noticing the familiar figure just a few feet behind her. That unchanging expression of the black-haired woman was difficult to confusion with anyone else. A heavy sigh escaped her lips in a mix of relief and self-panic. "Alicia, please... do not sneak up on us at moments like this."

She thought she had made plenty of noise while coming up the stairs but perhaps that had just merely been noise to her. "The vehicle that's approaching is reinforcements. I managed to get into contact with one of the bases and I also managed to convince them to come to our aid."

"You managed to do all of that... so quickly?"

"I told you I would be back by sunrise."

"Yeah but we thought you were just... you know, kidding." Marilyn started before she merely waved the whole matter off. "Forget it, forget it, let's just take the help while we can. Jackson, you and Butch get Maxwell up and ready to go; Alicia and I will go out and meet with these... whoever they are."

"Alright, we'll try."

"Come on, Alicia, let's go back and see who these people are."

_**Must we really repeat introductions? This is terribly hindering to my patience.**_

"Yes well, that's not up to you, now is it?"

* * *

Just the small sounds of engines grinding outside as they struggled to catch onto something, the echoes of footsteps outside in the passing corridors, the clanking of tools in the nearby shed... all of it gave off the illusion of presence; of a population that she had long since been a stranger to. It was those small noises that otherwise would've been an annoyance to her that reminded her of just how quickly the world around them seemed to have spiraled downward and out of control; were they really going to try and fix all of this? Of course. If they didn't, no one else could. Cupping her face in her hands, she let out a long sigh of exhaustion before she moved her fingers to lightly massage at her temples. The long-throbbing headache in her head seemed to have been present from day one but it was slowly beginning to back down; allowing for her to gain control for once.

The paper cup of steaming, pre-made coffee in front of her was reassuring, even if it kind of tasted like dirt.

"Tired?"

She glanced up at the question and chuckled lightly at the sight of the black-haired woman standing in the slightly cracked doorway. "Yeah… well exhausted and on the brink of death sometimes." Marilyn nodded as she moved to tuck aside a few of her hanging strands of hair. "Hell, just yesterday you were covered in dirty bandages and bleeding everywhere… and now you still looked better than me. What exactly... happened? I mean, now you're all healed and redressed... It's like magic."

"It's a perk." Alicia answered cleanly as she eventually moved her way into the small break room and took the chair across from the woman; a small, round table settled between them had seen its better days as one of its three legs had been replaced with a slightly bent pipe- a few rounds of duct tape kept it somewhat in place. "My powers were eventually revived enough to restore complete health and transform the earlier clothing back into my usual suit of clothes."

"Man, I wish I had that kind of dark, demonic power- just for the ability to change clothing." Marilyn chuckled as she dropped her hands to lightly wrap around the cup; using the faint warmth to bring some kind of feeling back to her fingers. "It would certainly save me time in the morning, or would have at some point. I guess that's one perk of this... Post-Apocalyptic affair, no wasting time in the morning worrying about my clothes or my hair or my make up. Instead, I wake up to gunpowder as eyeliner and death as a perfume."

"Never said it was a bad thing."

"It's a beauty queen thing now."

"Erhm, excuse me ladies."

The two glanced back at the voice and watched as the Lieutenant carefully made himself visible in the doorway. He seemed to wait for them to nod back in acknowledgement before he slowly stepped inside; hands lightly clasped behind him.

"How's he doing? Were you able to do anything?" Marilyn questioned; trying not to make herself sound all too panicked.

"I have my best medics working right now; they reported that while the damages were extensive, they were easy to repair. He'll be recovering for awhile but they predict a smooth healing period. From what they've told me, he'll be just fine soon enough. You might have to stay out of action for now while he's recovering, a couple of weeks, maybe months but... he's alive." the Lieutenant assured with his own brief nod.

"That's all that matters." Marilyn replied with a heavy sigh of relief. It felt like a suffocating weight was lifted off her shoulders and chest. Maybe now she could get a decent night's sleep without much worry."Until then, we can make ourselves useful around here; it's the least we could do."

The man seemed to make a move to offer otherwise as he spoke. "While we were suffering from some defensive problems before... those were settled out rather quickly. As of now, we have our perimeter secured once more and will now be able to offer the security and safety we had before. While we are in no need for men right now… I will keep your offer in mind if you want."

"I just don't want you thinking that we're taking advantage of the free ride; we may not be the most well-equipped squadron but we're not afraid to get our hands dirty. Although Butch may not be able to do as much heavy-lifting as he seems- or brags of." she chuckled lightly. "You know... I don't think I ever caught your name, or... really introduced anyone on our squadron either."

"I've already been introduced to Officers Butch and Jackson, as well as Commander Maxwell. As for myself, I'm Lieutenant Daniel Cooper; you may refer to me as just Daniel if you wish, it bares no difference to me." he started. "You'll probably meet Sergeant Cladson sometime today; he's the man in charge of this station."

"Marilyn. And this is Alicia... although I believe you two might've met before."

"Yes, she... provided her assistance in defeating an attacking Giga."

"Really? She just saved our asses when we met her."

_**Ugh, this conversation is simply nauseating. Please kill it.**_

She tried to push his remark from her focus as she eventually moved herself from the table; getting back to her feet after the short break. "If you'll excuse me, I'm going to complete another round of the base and make sure that there isn't any Geist presence nearby."

"You don't have to, our soldiers are working on repairing the broken defensive walls so there's plenty of people on guard." Daniel started.

"If you're doing repairs, Butch is an okay handy man; if you don't mind him hitting himself in the hand with a hammer a few times, he can offer some assistance." Marilyn added. "Although he doesn't have the best coordination either… still, if there's a place that needs repair and is too dangerous to send any of your own men out to fix, Butch is free for the cause."

"If that's alright, I'll complete my own runs." Alicia repeated.

"I suppose I shouldn't reject a lady's request." Lieutenant Daniel nodded. "If you wish, there's a cleansing house on the far end of the facility you're welcomed to use. The facilities are still in working order and... they're fairly separated between the two sexes, but I'll tell my men ahead of time to avoid their usage for a few hours."

"If you basically told me that I could take a shower, then you said the magic words."


End file.
